Spin Definition and 1000 Threads

  1. A

    Relabeling spin or angular momentum operators

    Spin or angular momentum in my book is formulated in the basis of eigenstates of the operator that measures the angular momentum along the z-axis. But in principle I guess this could just as well have been done in the basis of eigenstates of Ly or Lx. Will that change anything in the equations...
  2. M

    Energy Eigenvalues for Ion with Spin

    Homework Statement An ion has effective spin ħ. The spin interacts with a surrounding lattice so that: Hspin = A S2 z. I first had to write H as a matrix. Then i had to find the energy eigenvalues. Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution I figured j=1 and mj = 1,0,-1 S2 z = ħ2(1 0 0; 0...
  3. U

    Quick question on Baryon spin states

    Things I don't understand: What do they mean by "two spin-1/2 doublets and a spin-3/2 quadruplet"? Why do they use the two flavours "+2/3e and -1/3e" ?
  4. D

    Spin wavefunction for 2 electrons

    In 4-D Hilbert space for 2 electrons is |up1>|down2> equivalent to |down1>|up2> due to electrons being identical ?
  5. Clear Mind

    What is the Nuclear Spin of Fluorine-19 and How is it Calculated?

    I was trying to calculate the ##^{19}_{9}F_{10}## nuclear spin using the nuclear shell method. From what i know the nuclear spin for a nucleous with odd ##A## is the total angular momentum ##J## of the stand-alone nucleon: P: ##(1d_{5 \backslash 2})^1## (stand-alone nucleon) N: ##(1d_{5...
  6. LarryS

    Are there particles with zero spin?

    Are there any elementary particles with zero intrinsic spin? Thanks in advance.
  7. M

    Preparing a spin state and measurements

    Hey guys, I'm very new to quantum mechanics and have purchased 'Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum. I'm still a bit confused by a fairly fundamental idea. In the book, it states that you first prepare a spin state (say the σz = +1) in the initial measurement. If you rotate the...
  8. Coffee_

    [QM] Addition of spin for normal and identical particles

    1. Problem: Consider the composed system of two particles of spin ##s=1## where their angular momenta is ##l=0##. What values can the total spin take if they identical? What changes when they are distinguishable? The Attempt at a Solution : The problem I have here is incorporating the fact...
  9. S

    Complex Function & Spin Connection: What Changes?

    A simple question: If we have $$z$$ is a complex function, and we have here $$\omega_\mu^{ij}$$ represents some spin connection where $$\mu$$ is spacetime corrdinate. And say we have $$z + \omega_\mu^{12}$$ no matter for now what the metric is, if I want to take the conjugate of this, is the...
  10. Coffee_

    [Intro QM] A bit confused on spin of system notation

    1. In Griffiths, in the section where he discusses the 'total' spin of two spin 1/2 particles (''Addition of angular momenta'') he starts of using a notation new to me. Namely ##\chi=\chi_1\chi_2## where I know what ##\chi_1## and ##\chi_2## represent independently, which has been discussed in...
  11. nomadreid

    Keeping the spin constant during an experiment?

    In texts about quantum computing, one prepares electrons or other particles in definite spins (up or down), then pass them through various gates, etc. But since the probability that an electron changes spin state within a very short time, then how can this be realistically done? Is there a way...
  12. S

    Spinning bottle on the surface of the water

    Let us suppose that a cylindrical bottle is on the surface of the water (filled with air for simplicity). A little spin is given to the bottle makes it rotating around the symmetry axis of the cylinder. After a while the bottle stops rotating. How to calculate the time duration of spinning?
  13. S

    Uncertainty in spin on multiple axes

    In my quantum mechanical studies, I came across the information that if you know an electron's spin on one axis, then you can not know its spin on another axis. For example, if you know that an electron is spin up on the z-axis, then apparently due to the Uncertainty Principle, you can not know...
  14. Quarlep

    Understanding Spin States: Theoretical Minimum and Normal Coordinate Systems

    In The Theoritical Minimum we shown all spins states use just two states up and down. How can we do that.? I am confused about the directions of states and normal coordinate system Can somebody help me ? Thanks
  15. Spinnor

    Dirac spinor in 1+1d, do the 2 components represent spin?

    The Dirac equation in 3+1 space-time yields spin, is this still true in 1+1d space-time? If not what do the 2 components of the spinor represent? Do we still have intrinsic spin in 1+1d space-time? Thanks for any help!
  16. Quarlep

    Understanding Spin and Quantum States: Insights from 'The Theoretical Minimum

    I am reading a book The Theoretical Minimum I didnt understand spin and quantum states "All possible spin states can be represented in a two dimensional vector space." What it means ?
  17. H

    How to treat spin orbit operator directly

    For an electron the spin operator S_zis represented by a 2×2 matrix, with spin up and down as its bases. Consider the angular momentum operator L_z with l=1 which is a 3×3 matrix. How can we treat the L_z S_z operator directly in matrix form?
  18. S

    Question about spin operators and eigenvalues

    I've been watching Leonard Susskind's videos on quantum entanglements. Naturally, one of the things that he has been discussing is spin and its various operator Hermitian matrices and eigenvalues. Now I have two main questions about this: 1. I know that if you apply a spin operator σ (which is...
  19. T

    Quantum Computing with Zero Spin Atoms?

    Hello, Is it possible to build a qubit from an atom with a nuclear spin of zero (ie. 16O, 12C, 32S)? Would it depend on electron spin instead? Thanks!
  20. D

    Does Particle Spin Refer to Rotation?

    Does spin for particles actually refer to spin as in rotation? Or does it mean something else. Do all elementary particles rotate? Without a magnetic field can you have rotation or does the rotation create the magnetic field?
  21. binbagsss

    Nuclear / Particle Phys Notation quick q spin, parity,J

    Homework Statement When we use ##J^{/pm} ## where ##/pm## gives the parity, some sources say ##J## is the spin and some say the total angular momentum, I'm confused ! Also in my notes we have ##P=(-1)^l##, but looking on this thread...
  22. T

    Hamiltonian of two identical spin-1/2 particles

    Homework Statement Two identical spin-1/2 particles of mass m moving in one dimension have the Hamiltonian $$H=\frac{p_1^2}{2m} + \frac{p_2^2}{2m} + \frac{\lambda}{m}\delta(\mathbf r_1-\mathbf r_2)\mathbf s_1\cdot\mathbf s_2,$$ where (pi, ri, si) are the momentum, position, and spin operators...
  23. J

    How can I sort photons by spin?

    I want to split a photon beam with no net angular momentum into two beams in both of which the sum of photon spins is not zero.
  24. T

    Nuclear Spin and Selection Rules

    Suppose we define the total angular momentum as F = I+J where I is the nuclear spin angular momentum and J is the total electronic angular momentum. mF and mJ are the respective magnetic quantum numbers. The relevant F selection rules are delta_mF = 0, 1 and -1, delta_F = 0, 1 and -1. And...
  25. J

    Spin parity and attractive/repulsive forces

    In most introductory QFT treatments, it's stated early on (and without proof) that particles with even integral spin are always attractive, while those with odd integral spin can be repulsive; sometimes this is even cited as evidence that the graviton must be spin 2 (I think Feynman's...
  26. K

    Density Matrix for Spin 1/2 particle in a magnetic field

    Hi everyone! I am trying to create the density matrix for a spin-1/2 particle that is in thermal equilibrium at temperature T, and in a constant magnetic field oriented in the x-direction. This is a fairly straightforward process, but I'm getting stuck on one little part. Before starting I...
  27. Lamdbaenergy

    How can black holes have electrical charge, and spin?

    If the star's mass supposedly collapses into a single point, and it ends up having "said" zero volume, then how can people say that the hole has a specific spin or that it can have an angular momentum? Does it mean that the singularity is somehow still spinning, or maybe the spacetime around it...
  28. G

    Why does i-epsilon prescription not cure spin 1 propagator

    Within the path integral framework, the reason you have to use Fadeev-Popov quantization for spin 1 is because the matrix of the coefficients of the quadratic part of the free-Lagrangian is non-invertible. But doesn't an i\epsilon prescription take care of that? The same thing happens with the...
  29. LarryS

    Classical Circular Polarization vs. Photon Spin Eigenstates

    Hello, Given an electromagnetic wave that is, from a classical point-of-view, not circular polarized. Does that correspond in QM to photons with the ZERO spin eigenstate? Thanks in advance.
  30. T

    Generalising the Ising model to multiple spin values

    My tutor asked us today to consider the partition function of the following model as an aside to our topic at the moment. I went to work out the maths of it today and I'm quite stuck for how the calculation can proceed. It's a 1d closed chain with some number, n, points. Each point has some...
  31. nomadreid

    Difference between spin and helicity for a photon

    First: a question about spin. When we say that an electron has spin 1/2, we mean that it can have the values ħ/2 or -ħ/2. So when we say that a photon has spin 1, I would expect this to mean that the measurement of a photon would give values either ħ or -ħ. But then I am confused by the...
  32. S

    Quantum spin numbers for ground-state electron configurations

    Homework Statement [/B] Please redraw this figure by assuming that an electron can have spin quantum number ms = +1/2 (arrow up), ms = 0 (marked as "I"), or ms = -1/2 (arrow down). It is important to clearly state your arguments/reasoning. http://s30.postimg.org/jz7tfeha9/wow.png Homework...
  33. bearcharge

    Associated Legendre differential equation involved in solving spin function?

    Amazed by the closeness of equations for orbital angular momentum L and spin angular momentum S, I can't help asking is associated Legendre differential equation involved in solving spin function? I only heard that spin naturally comes from treatment of quantum mechanics with relativity theory...
  34. J

    Does Quantum Precession Contradict Traditional Spin Directions?

    Hi pf. From what I have read, when measured, a particles spin can only be in one direction. So either 100% spinning up or 100% spinning down and not in between. So, you can't have a spin that is in between (tilted) - it must be one or the other. But I recently learned that when we place a...
  35. LarryS

    Spin 1 Particle Representations of SO(3) and SU(2)

    I am still learning about all the Groups related to the Dirac Equation for spin 1/2 particles. Apparently, the reason that the Hilbert Space for spin 1/2 particles is 2-dimensional is because when you try to map SU(2) to SO(3), the mapping is 2-to-1, i.e. SU(2) is a double cover for SO(3)...
  36. jk22

    Polarization, Bell, and spin of photons

    i have the following questions: Bell inequalities use spin 1/2 matrices and experiments use photons. Is then the electric field horizontal or vertical after the measurement with a polarizer in other words can we assimilate the orientation of the field with a vector in the hilbert space ? How...
  37. J

    Discovery of Maxwell field's spin

    After coming across an article by Schwinger where he tries to deduce the spin of a neutron, I started to wonder when the same thing was done for the photon... Specifically, I've been trying to locate "the" article where the spin of the electromagnetic field was theoretically determined to be 1...
  38. K

    Statistical mechanics, spin average

    This is an exercise from an old examination that I am trying to understand by following the given solution to this problem. The exercise is about to calculate the four spin average <SiSjSkSl> and the indices i,j,k and l, given a Hamiltonian H. Solution: The problem is that i can't follow the...
  39. S

    Spin inversion under dipole-dipole interaction of fermions

    Homework Statement Consider two spin 1/2 particles interacting through a dipole-dipole potential \hat{V} = A\frac{(\hat{\sigma_1} \cdot \hat{\sigma_2})r^2 - (\sigma_1 \cdot \vec{r})(\sigma_2 \cdot \vec{r})}{r^5} If both spins are fixed at a distance d between each other, and at t = 0 one of...
  40. kawkaw

    How Is Nuclear Spin Calculated for Alkali Atoms?

    hello, i am new in this forum , :) i want to ask if anyone know how to calculate the nuclear spin of an atom in general, i searched in google i didnt find any method of calculation :/ can anyone help me please, thanks
  41. Prashasti

    Spin Magnetic Moment: Does an Electron Really Spin?

    Does an electron really spin about its own axis? If not, what does spin magnetic moment imply? My physics teacher said "Besides the orbital moment, an electron has an intrinsic magnetic moment, it is called the spin magnetic moment, But I hasten to add that it is not as though the electron is...
  42. D

    Does the Solar System spin around an axis and if so where is it?

    Hi, Does the solar system spin around an axis as it travels through space, much like a planet rotates as it orbits the sun and if it does where is the axis point. I know the solar system is orbiting the centre of the galaxy, I was just wondering if it behaved like a planet because things tend...
  43. TrickyDicky

    QFT Corrections to Electron's g-Factor: Implications for Spin Symmetry

    Do the corrections after renormalization to the gyromagnetic ratio of the electrón, more precisely its g-factor, that slightly deviate from the relativistic Dirac equation prediction of g=2 as corresponds to a spin 1/2 fermion, mean that the fermions spin symmetry is only aproximate? i.e. that...
  44. G

    Describing 3-component spin 1 with a 4-Vector

    For a spin 1 field described by a 4-vector, the condition m \partial_\mu A^\mu=0 can be derived from the equations of motion. This condition reduces the degrees of freedom from 4 to 3 for a massive particle (when m is not equal to zero). However, for the photon, \partial_\mu A^\mu=0 has to be...
  45. S

    How to Derive the Equality Involving u^s(p) and Spin 4-Vector?

    Hello everyone, I have a problem with deriving following equality: \begin{equation} u^{s}(p) \bar{u}^{s}(p) = 1/2 ((\slashed{p} + m)(1+\gamma^5 \slashed{s})) \end{equation} where s is spin 4-vector. I know how to calculate this tensor product when there is spin sum in front of it, but without...
  46. C

    How to describe the spin state of a massless particle?

    For a massive particle, say, an electron, we can use a spin vector ##\vec{S}## to denote its spin state, and the corresponding covariant four vector ##S^\mu##. And we have ##P \cdot S = 0## in the particle rest frame, so it holds in any frame for it is an Lorentz scalor. But, what if the...
  47. marcus

    Spin foam phase space, classical action (Wieland's talk is online)

    Wieland gave his ILQGS talk yesterday, 16 September. Audio and slides are on line. Title: Covariant loop quantum gravity: Its classical action, phase space and gauge symmetries http://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/ilqgs/wieland091614.pdf http://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/ilqgs/wieland091614.wav The...
  48. A

    Spin difference between entangled and non-entangled

    What exactly entangled-spin pairs do in Stern–Gerlach experiment that ordinary particles pairs with opposite magnetic dipole moments do not? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Bell.svg/600px-Bell.svg.png What equation represents the blue line and what equation if for the...
  49. arivero

    Sum of spin for chiral particles?

    How does the spin of a pair of particles work if both particles are known to be chiral? generically if I sum the spins of two different (EDIT: spin 1/2, indeed ;-) particles I expect to get a triplet with S=1 \uparrow\uparrow, \uparrow\downarrow+\downarrow\uparrow, \downarrow\downarrow and...
  50. Z

    Spin of 1p1n Nuclei: Theory & Explanation

    I am interested in the topic of the thread https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=768539 ,especially for those unpair 1p1n case. As I know, for the simplest case deuteron, the Jπ (groundstate here and later) is 1+ but 0+. This is very different to the atomic physics case. For He...
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